Asked a day later about the comment, athletic director Dave Brandon didn't liken the Irish to poultry, but didn't back away from his coach's sentiments either.

"It sounded a lot like Brady," Brandon said with a smile. "I probably wouldn't use those exact words, but we were disappointed. When I say we, our student-athletes, our coaches, all of us in athletic administration, we were all really disappointed to be put in a position where that rivalry is going to end."

Michigan will host Notre Dame this season in a reboot of the teams' night game from 2011, shown here. It's the series' last scheduled game in Ann Arbor.Melanie Maxwell | AnnArbor.com

Brandon, speaking to media during the Big Ten's athletic director meetings in Chicago, said three times that he's "disappointed" Notre Dame chose to cancel games against Michigan from 2015-17.

The teams are not scheduled to meet again, and there's almost no chance they can restart the series until at least 2020, if at all.

"It's not only ending for a short period or time, but as more time passes, everybody's getting scheduled out to 2020 and beyond, it's going to be a long time before those two teams play again -- unless we run into a bowl or some kind of situation where it's a one-off," Brandon said.

"But that home-and-home series, which we really enjoyed, and so did our fans, based on TV ratings -- to see that to come to an end, it's a bummer."

Brandon said he's interested in hooking up with another program in a long-term series, but that has proved difficult because teams now schedule years in advance.

“It’s difficult,” he said. “Because to find another program that can, year after year after year clear the date like we got into that rhythm with Notre Dame, is difficult. There are programs out there that might be fun to have that kind of relationship, but as I dug around, it became difficult.”

While Brandon backed his coach, at least one Notre Dame player took exception with Hoke's comments. Defensive tackle Louis Nix voiced his displeasure on Twitter.